The Hindu
September 21, 2008
Teesta criticises Catholics’ accord with Hindu groups
Staff Correspondent
’There can be no peace without justice’
Police charged with bias against Christians
Activist to press for stern action against two inspectors
MANGALORE: Human Rights activist Teesta Setalvad criticised sections of the Catholic order, led by the Bishop of Mangalore, for entering into a “compromising” agreement with Hindutva groups in the aftermath of the attacks on churches in the region.
Ms. Setalvad said: “There can be no peace without justice. Throughout the history, sections from the victim community have been co-opted by the oppressor.” She termed as “opportunistic” and “lacking in character” the concessions made by the Catholic leadership in which they had purportedly agreed to climb down on certain issues in exchange for peace offered from the Hindutva groups. Presenting the Gujarat example she said that in the several years that the activists such as herself had been fighting for justice, several victims of the post-Godhra incident had turned hostile towards the activists. “The common refrain of the victims is that they do not want any more trouble after what they have already gone through. But that is what the oppressor wants. Violence and intimidation leads to fear which leads to submission,” she said.
Reacting to the recent spate of attacks on Churches and prayer halls in Dakshina Kannada she alleged that the police had been neutralised by some forces. “There have been no all-round transfers of police officials in the district for over 15 years. The police, therefore, act partisan,” she said.
She said that she was going to press for strict action against Inspectors Jayanth Shetty and M.K. Ganapathy, who allegedly used excessive force in their attempts to quell the retaliatory violence from Christian community on Sunday and Monday. She alleged that the events that were happening over the last few weeks were an indication of the partisan attitude of the district administration as it was under duress from the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State.
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